Turned
by runawaypoet
Summary: A story of mistakes, naivity, deception and how Albia came to be as it is today Please R&R! sorry I'm so late with any updates, its been hectic and I slight case of writer's block! :
1. The Beginning

The big underground dome was alive with scuttling, whispering and an underlying alchemy of excitement and anxiety. The dome doubled as a shelter and a laboratory and for the past 54 years the 4 Shee professors were creating different lifeforms and studying mutations. Now, half a lifetime's work had accumulated into this moment, the moment where the first complex being would see the light of day.  
  
Four hunching figures, dressed in clinical white coats were studying the egg in the middle of the theatre table with intense concentration. Dr. Dunnefisk , who was in charge of Physical Build, had constructed the egg out of edible fibreglass - this was now rocking slightly from side to side. Then suddenly, a single crack appeared on the surface and after a few seconds a tiny fist reached out of the egg. Little crackling sounds echoed in the laboratory, almost overwhelmed by the other machines, who were clicking and bleeping as usual, oblivious to what point in history was being made there.  
  
Dr. Atriscemy, who was a brilliant but nervous Shee, tried to calm the tremor in his hands by grabbing hold of the table. What if he had not constructed the bronchioli or colon correctly..... The other Shee would never forgive him .. His train of thought was interrupted by gasps from the others. His head turned to the table. A tiny little baby animal was sitting upright, rather unsteadily , it's honey- brown fur still slightly wet from the inside of the egg. He had big blue inquisitive eyes and a naked face and hands, whereas the rest of him was covered in a velvety fur. "Beh" a voice as tiny as the animal it came from piped up. Dr. Atriscemy sighed of relief at seeing the little chest heaving up and down slightly.  
  
The Shee had never been able to show or feel much emotion until now, they were just not born that way , but now they congratulated each other cheerily, every one of them proud and filled with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. Dr. Dunnefisk walked over to his colleague Dr. Netalisys and shook his hand. "Now just to see if the reflexes are as good as the looks" he said rather amused. Dr. Netalisys looked pretty much like the other 3 Shee, tall, with long pale blue faces, and slender, almost bony hands , except this Shee had an unmistakeable cold stare and equally cold heart that he directed to anyone who dared question his scholarly ways.  
  
The neurosurgeon had thought himself superior over the others a number of times, and never failed to let his colleagues' mistakes go by unnoticed. He shot back rather sarcastically: "The reflexes are perfect, but is his body? Look at this!" He paced over to the little animal, plucked it up and held it upside down from it's tail. Indeed, the tail was there, but the coccyx and spine were grown together, the result being that the tail could not move, but just stuck out like a twig from behind the animal. Dunnefisk's hands were clenched into a fist under the table. Netalisys' hawkeyes had seen it too. Morphex was going to give him trouble about this.  
  
Professor Morphex , the project leader , was laying back on an office chair next to the big Creator Computer. Waves of satisfaction were rippling over him and an absent smile crossed his face. He had done it. He had done it! The fruit of endless frustration, countless mistakes and sleepless nights was sitting curiously on the table in the middle of the humid laboratory. He closed his eyes as the memories began to seep back. 70 years ago on the planet of Midgard his seniors in Section A-65 had laughed at his idea of creating a complex being, one able to think, feel and perform complicated actions. He had been so persistent in his aims that he had secretly allocated a closet to his research - while individual research was forbidden. He had always been different than his shallow peers. Well, he had just finished a prototype outline for the creature when they discovered him.  
  
He and 3 other Shee were banned from Midgard for eternity. Shee were immortal so finding a dwelling could take thousands of years. Eventually they discovered another disk-shaped world, Albia. It was very similar to Midgard, except for much more resources and a richer variety of plant and animal life. Finding it was relatively uninhabited, they landed. They built a laboratory underground ; science was all they ever knew , no family, hobbies , or friends, only work. This new creation was fresh. Like a new morning..morn.. "NORN!!!" He yelled and jumped up suddenly. The other doctors were startled by this outburst. "We'll call it a norn! It's perfect! My fellow Shee, the race Norn , has just been created. Have you written that down Dunnefisk?" "Yes, Professor." He walked over to the Norn, looked at it for a moment then said : "We'll call this little norn Ron, it means first in Shee language."  
  
And so began the first chapter of the Norn... 


	2. 10 Years down the line

Nikai sat down under the shade of the Tantrisberry Tree. He was tired after gathering his daily ration of food from the patches of mushrooms and carrots that grew around Albia. He had been up since sunrise, his favourite part of the day, and also the fourth day of his venture.His aqua-green body and lime mohawk hair almost blended in with the lush greenery in the Tantris Forest.  
  
Nikai was part of the Kai Norn tribe that resided between the dock and the waterfall. The only Kai Norns ever - they were the 7th type of Norn to be created by the Shee ,who were becoming increasingly busy : they did not want to spend extra time with their creations so they made adjustments to the original genome so they did not have to.  
  
Just as the he was about to reach out to take a carrot he heard a scream from the Cornucopia bush a few metres away. He sprang up and ran to the sound as fast as his norn legs could take him. He practically fought throught the bush to get to the norn that was still screaming. He grabbed the female norn on the other side, held his paw in front of her eyes and rushed through the bush to get to a clearing on the Plato bridge.  
  
He came to a stop in the middle of the bridge and held the norn against him, as he felt her body go limp. She was swaying from side to side and her screaming had made way for an almost hysterical and very despondent crying. He had to hold on to her until he was sure she was ok. They slipped to the floor together, her head resting on his arm.  
  
The crying subsided into just a few whimpers coming from the still unknown norn. Nikai was strong, as he had been one of the alpha males in his tribe - now feeling more in control of the situation, looked down at the norn in his arms. She was a deep purple, with marbled pink-purple ears and curled fuschia hairlocks. He had seen Malay Norns before , but never one as beautifully coloured as this one. Then he saw something white on her back.  
  
He lifted his arm a little to see better and a white pair of wings emerged from underneath. The female norn spoke. "Thank you." The words were no more than a whisper - she lifted her head and tried to turn. What looked back at Nikai was two teary, lime-green eyes , looking at him thankfully but distrustingly and cautious.  
  
"I'm Nikai, a Kai Norn. Are you ok? Why were you screaming back there?" The other norn shifted so that she could have a full view of him. "Isis." There was a long silence before she felt she had her composure , and continued. "Do you see these wings?" Her head lowered. "They're not natural." Nikai went cold - he had heard of Shee experimentation but Kais were compassionate creatures and did not want to think badly of their creators. "They moulded these wings onto me using a long-stemmed welder tool. Since then I had escaped and found out that whenever I eat fruit my hunger drive converts into pain drive..so every time I eat I feel pain. It's excruciating." Her voice was flat, portraying no emotion. She looked up.  
  
"I don't know what to say. It's going to be ok, I promise. I'll look after you." Isis laughed dryly, it almost sounded like a choke. "Oh yes, I forgot , you're a Kai, you want to nurture me. Well I'm DYING! Are you stupid or something? I'm dying and there's nothing you can do about it." Nikai stood up and began to walk towards the lookout point further down the bridge. The next moment he felt two arms gripping him forcefully from behind. Next to his ear Isis spoke softly. "I get nightmares. Please don't leave me." Nikai was so mad at the Shee at that moment he did not have enough self-control to tell Isis that he had never intended to do so.  
  
The had reached the Tantrisberry Tree by dusk - the Albian sky was tinted a dark blue at the top and becoming an orange hue nearer to the horizon. "You sleep in the Gelsemium caves, there you'll be safe." Gelsemium fruit were the same deep purple as Isis, so they offered a little camouflage as well as coverage. After burrowing a hollow in the ground and lining it with Albian Pear leaves, he returned to where he left her under the Tantrisberry tree. He found Isis asleep , and carried her off to her bed before going to sleep himself, safely tucked away between green triffid plants.  
  
Nikai woke up to the sound of twittering birds and the odd slap on the face from the triffid plants who were being moved back and forth by the wind. He got up and walked to the Western Sea dock , which was a upper level of the gelsemium caves.He stood there several minutes as the cool ocean breeze refreshed him - he was also beginning to feel quite hungry, remembering he hadn't eaten since yesterday just before he found..he turned on his heel and rushed down the bamboo lift that connected the upper and medium level.  
  
He hurried into the cave and with a strange sense of relief he found that Isis was still there. She sat cross-legged in front of an old lamp ,absentmindedly making little shapes with her hands over the lamp so they fabricated onto the cave wall. She looked so innocent at that moment that he did not have the heart to disturb her. She looked up at him. "How did you sleep?" Nikai replied. "Good, but how are you feeling? Is there anything I can go get you?" Isis smiled ironically. "Lifeforce if you can find any, thank you." Nikai sat down opposite her. "Isis, look, there must be something that we can do to stop this illness of yours." "It's not an illness, Nikai, it's a mutation. Chronic. Final." They sat like that in silence and Isis returned to what she was doing. He stood up and walked out.  
  
He couldn't stand that she was giving up. He was walking around outside rather aimlessly, mostly trying to get away from the smothering cloud of derisiveness surrounding Isis. He really wanted to help her , but she wasn't going to make this any easier for any of them. He returned to the dock. She was pretty , and true to his Kai nature, he was already becoming attached to her. He sighed. He had always wondered why the Shee had made his breed so emotional while they themselves were so dissimilar. Until yesterday he had feared and respected them, but he was beginning to doubt everything the Encyclopedia Nornica had taught them. Not entirely sure what to think , he preferred holding on to whatever little piece of knowledge he had accumulated about them - they were like father figures, an intelligent race that created everything the norns have , including themselves. He wanted to stick to that.  
  
Nikai looked down into the ocean and to his amazement he saw movement . One flitted by near to the ocean's surface and he got a good look at it. A pink and blue fish , about as big as his two hands put together . Strange, he's never heard of fish in the Western Sea.  
  
He bent down and waited for one to come by again. When it did, Nikai grabbed into the water blindly and to his surprize, he caught a fish. Very chuffed with himself he went to show Isis. "Look." He held it out to her." She smelled it, pulled a face then sneezed." "Tchoo! Get that thing away from me, it's still alive." A bit let down he dropped it and waited for its breathing to cease. When that finally happened, Nikai had already hatched a new idea. "Isis, did you say you were allergic to fruit?" "Yes." Nikai ripped off a piece of fish and before Isis knew what happened, he was on top of her, trying to get the piece into her mouth. "Aaaargh! Get off me you stupid norn! That is disgusting!!!" She tried to yell again but as she opened her mouth, he slid the piece in and put both his hands on either sides of her mouth, forcing her to chew and swallow. She did and what followed, surprized both Nikai and Isis. Nothing.  
  
She could eat fish! Nikai climbed off Isis and went to stand in front of the cave entrance. Isis remained on the floor, still in shock, trying to comprehend the last few minutes' happenings. Then she stood up and walked toward Nikai. Half - expecting a slap, he tried to cover with his hands in front of his face. Instead, Isis took them away gently and said: "If you ever do that again I'll throw you off the cliff..and.. thank you." She walked outside.  
  
The next week or two were mostly uneventful, the two norns just searching for food and shelter on a day-to-day basis. They visited legendary places like the Greenhouses, the Treehouse -where they found a big container of honey. And the incubator room which housed a big learning machine. Isis had learned to be a little less cynical, even laughed a few times, but the nightmares still haunted her some nights and Nikai had woken up many times to Isis' crying. Then one day, they had ventured into the desert--Some Malay Norns had told them there were a lot of toys and gadgets there. The sun was high and the horizon rippled with heatwaves - they felt tired and wanted to take a drink. "The big checkered flag is over there, that means that the Eastern Ocean must be there too." Nikai had told her. So they trudged on through the piping hot sand.  
  
Suddenly a light blue female Pixie norn jumped in front of them. "Hi, I'm Skyra, we don't get much visitors here In the desert, fancy finding you here!" the norn had a wide smile on her face. Nikai wanted to say something but froze mid-sentence. Towering over the norn's head was a big blue stingray, waiting like the bee of death. She smiled and looked at Nikai expectantly, waiting for him to complete whatever he was going to say.  
  
The stingray began to move.make twist movements and writhed in the air. Skyra's smile faded and she reached up to the stingray - took it with her claws and patted it gently. "That's why we don't get many visitors here." She said sadly. The sky was cloudless and the only nature that was to be seen was a clump of Spinnomosa and Spikeocausus cacti that grew in a hollow in the sand - these norns probably lived on detritus and water.  
  
Isis was the first to find her voice: "Are you dangerous?" Skyra seemed hurt by this comment and she turned away, replying softly. "Stronger, yes..more resilient, yes.but killers?..." she flinched. "...never." Nikai was almost certain that the Encyclopedia Nornica had said something about Scorpio Norns. They were originally created to withstand desert conditions and were made according to the Hades-model : extreme heat , with little resources and much danger. "What do you know about Hades, Skyra?" Nikai asked. Skyra contemplated the question for a few seconds then confessed that she didn't have an idea. "I have always wondered though, I mean, we're just about 7 Scorps here and no one really knows anything we could use..where do you suppose we can find that type of information?" Nikai lifted his head and shielded his eyes from the sun with a furry arm. "Shee." " I've never been there, how do we find the place?  
  
I don't know..maybe they won't even help us."the Scorpio Norn asked. Nikai looked at Skyra. "Of course they will, they made us..they love us..." Skyra sensed that she had touched sacred ground. "What are your names?" After they introduced themselves they decided that they will journey to the Shee Labs to find out about Skyra's breed and while they're there, try to help Isis.  
  
So after resting for an hour they set off to find the Shee Laboratory. 


	3. The Mistake

For days they traveled. Through the desert, the Tantrisberry Forest, the Bamboo Village on the base of Albia. On the way they had become friends, shared many campfires and charred ants. Life was good, considering the circumstances.  
  
Meanwhile, back at the Shee Laboratory... Dr. Dunnefisk leaned back onto the Creator Computer. "So, Prof Morphex, how is that archetype coming along?" Professor Morphex looked back at him and smiled. His drawing board was filled with sketches of green creatures, bigger and scarier-looking than norns. The project didn't really have a name yet, and it only started because Atriscemy had once mentioned that the area to the right of the laboratory seemed to have a high level of radiation and no plants ever grew there , as it was near a volcano. This sparked an idea with Morphex.he wasn't the project leader for nothing! "Good Dunnefisk, no.great actually , this was such a good idea. Have you finished the skin? You know about the specifications I added later on, right?"  
  
Dunnefisk nodded. Radiation-resistant and durable. Got it. As Dunnefisk was finished and was beginning to enjoy his hard earned break, he wandered over to The Veins and Organs division. It was dead quiet there, with cubical glass containers arranged in a perfect line. A soft light blue glow exuded from the walls and illuminated the whole room. His steps echoed on the white tiles as he walked from case to case. The first one contained a heart , suspended in mid-air and pumping dark red blood through a set of tubes connected to the vena cavae.  
  
The dirty water near the volcano will be filtered by these and so supplying the animals of sufficient water." Atriscemy stood behind Dunnefisk with his hands behind his back. "Come over here, let me amaze you." Dunnefisk followed him into another room. There, in the middle of the room was a clear plastic model of the creature that Morphex was going to create. Around and inside it was a fine and very complicated system of veins. From the Aorta to the smallest little capillaries in the claws.  
  
One thing that bothered Dunnefisk though, was that the eyes had very big veins behind them, as they usually used fine capillaries for Norn eyes. At inquiry about this, Atriscemy shook his head and pulled up his shoulders. "I have no idea, Morphex just said he wanted me to make bigger eyes with a distinct red glow with slits in the middle, not the usual pupil model we use on the others.  
  
"Let's go see what Netalisys is up to." Dunnefisk proposed. Atriscemy at once displayed unease. He didn't like the snappy neurosurgeon, as he was the subject of verbal torture most of the time. "Well.ok then, I really want to see the brain and everything." So they took the elevator up to the second floor. The elevator chimed open and they walked through an entrance that read "Neurosurgery".  
  
There, Netalisys was sitting in front of a metal gadget that looked like a plate with spider's legs connected to it. Placed on the "spiderlegs" was a brain. Forgetting caution, Dunnefisk exclaimed : " It's so small! Did you see the size of the creature? And why are the lobes not the same size?" Netalisys was instantly infuriated. "What are you two incompetents doing here? Are you looking for inspiration?--- seeing that you have the reputation of being quite insipid when it comes to creating things. Look what you did with the Albian Nut. It's so big the Norns can't finish it so they leave half of it around and thanks to you, Atriscemy.." He stood up and walked to Atrisemy, pointing a finger close to his face. "..the stupid plant's inner workings are so that whenever that happens, the plant reproduces to make another Nut Plant. Now the whole of Bamboo Cottage Test Plantation is flooded with the bloody things." Atriscemy had began to shiver and sweat at the same time. Netalisys never ceased to unnerve him. Dunnefisk stepped in between them. "Ok, we'll go, keep your colour mate." With that they left and as they did, Netalisys locked the lab door behind them. He was convinced they hadnt seen too much. That would be fatal..  
  
Days went by and the more that went by the more occupied Morphex was becoming. He would sit for hours on end in the main laboratory , ardently making little sketches, studying them and then redrawing them. The main laboratory was connected with 2 divisions : Artificial Life and Plant/Animal Lab. The Artificial Life wing had 4 subdivisions , who were divided between the 4 Shee professors. Neurosurgery , Veins & Organs, Physical Build , and DNA. DNA belonged to Morphex, who was also the conceptualist for new breeds. Despite banishing his other creations or subjecting them to experiments, he had kept one of his latest norns. It looked like a normal Hebe norn, but he was different.  
  
The little norn was now approaching youth and had learned the full Encyclopedia Nornica in just a day, where it took other norns half a lifetime. The Shee tossed the piece of paper on the floor and put his bamboo-stem pencil down. With bloodshot eyes he glanced up at the clock: 4:23 am. In about 5 hours the new creature would live. His great big lungs will gasp great gulps of air and his voice will roar through the lab. With that thought Morphex dozed off.  
  
Hours later they gathered in the main lab room. Morphex was standing around with a cup of pink Splotberry Coffee, trying to calm himself down. Dunnefisk was setting up the egg layer, typing in coordinates and setting the strength of the fibreglass to be used in the egg. Atriscemy was pacing around nervously as usual, he had a bad feeling about this. The Shee had no defence if this creature started going off the rails - and this could easily happen, considering the strength the creature posessed. Dunnefisk had showed him one of the back muscles yesterday - it was about a metre long and 50 cm thick --- fortified with extra , and stronger myofibrills, the units that muscles consist of.  
  
Only Netalisys was missing. He excused himself earlier with a "There are some finishing touches to be done" and he hasn't been seen ever since. An hour later, everything was ready. Everyone was present except Netalisys. At the last minute before completion he rushed in and pushed the brain into the skull of the creature, quickly connected the main neurons and medulla oblongata and rejoined the others.  
  
Even with this rushed action, Dunnefisk could see that the brain was not normal. Netalisys was up to something but it was too late to find out. The machine let out a loud hiss and the creature DNA and outline body were swallowed by the Creator Computer. After several seconds of mechanical hissing, purring and bleeping, a egg appeared. It differed from the norn eggs created previously. This egg had a rough texture with a dirty coppery glow and reeked of rotting plant material.  
  
The lab seemed more humid than usual - the four figures were crouching over the egg to listen for any sound of life. Suddenly, instead of the usual subdued crackling sound, , two upwardly turned fangs tore through, puncturing the egg at the side. The fangs raked upwards, cutting the egg in half. The egg's top opened and two bright red eyes appeared. The creature was big, green and on his face there was a cruel manic smile pasted on. An incredible stench filled the room - the animal cried out , a spine chilling, gruff sound. Then, it turned it's head sideways, looked directly at Morphex, and then suddenly, before anyone could move, thrusted out a immense claw and stabbed it right through him. It was a cool and calculated gesture and the animal's red eyes glowed with pleasure. As it kept it's claw there, Morphex gasped for air and at the back of his lab coat a wet blotch was beginning to form. White milky liquid was seeping from the Shee - shee blood only contained leucocytes and oxygen. Then , just as instantly as the creature had thrust it's claw forward, he retracted it, letting the once-brilliant Shee slip to the floor. They had just witnessed the birth of the Grendel. 


	4. Shee Pet

Back in the Incubator Room the three norn friends were lazing about, the mission forgotten, if only temporarily. Nikai was lying back on the tap stationed on the edge of the Goldfish pond, lazily looking at Isis where she was holding a doozer in her two hands. "Nikai, what do you reckon this thing does?" She squeezed it slightly. "Egg!" It yelled in a high-pitched voice. Isis pulled a face. " I'm more likely to remember this weird sound than the word." She put it down and it waltzed off with a little air of indignation, like they always do.  
  
Skyra was babbling incessantly. Her stinger was excitedly writhing in the air as she held up a shiny red tomato. "You know, the Elder Norn told us nornlings once that you actually found.get this.Ugly Tomatoes in Old Albia. Hehehe, imagine that.ugly tomatoes, who would eat that? But then again, he also said that the only norns who ate them were norns who didn't want...you know.." She held her claw over her mouth. ".babies." Who wouldn't want babies?" Nikai interrupted her. "Was the Elder norn a Scorpio?"  
  
She replied: " No, he was an Hebe Norn actually ..but he didn't look like you guys. He was different. He never got angry, or even when he seemed angry, his face was a blank. What else..oh yes.he had brownish fur and you know, everybody made fun about his tail, that was like, stuck to his body! Hehehehe." This sounded familiar to Nikai, but he felt in no condition to think, as he had been racking his brain a lot these past days. "I'm really tired, I think I'm going to take a little nap, if you girls don't mind." He laid back in the mushroom patch and rested his head on his arms.  
  
The two went up the lift to the Desert Area to look if the toy top was still there. It was , but out of reach, at the top of the Big Tree. Isis was about to get into the lift when Skyra slammed the lift button. " No, I want to show you how resilient Scorpios are. I will climb this tree to get the top." Isis looked amused and stepped out of the lift cautiously. She walked past the norn until she was a safe distance - then she stood with crossed arms, waiting for the challenge the Scorpio had issued herself with. Skyra walked a few paces back from the tree and rubbed her paws together. "Are you sure about this Skyra? I have never heard about any norns who could climb a tree."  
  
Skyra looked at her, quite bothered and lowered her upper body - she looked ready to storm. So she did. The blue norn ran as fast as she could then theatrically jumped at the tree with wide open arms and legs. And there, splat onto the tree like a piece of Velcro, she stuck. Isis fell down on the floor and laughed so hard it was almost unnatural that it came from a norn. "Oh hohoho hehehe sweet tomato! This is so hahahaha oh" Skyra's voice piped up. "Eh..um..Isis? Some help?" As the words left her mouth Nikai appeared from the escalating Incubator Lift. Trying to keep a straight face, he said: "Didn't think norn fur would stick to a rough surface like a tree now did you Skyra?" He pulled her off with ease. Isis had finally stopped laughing and was now sitting back on her elbows, watching the rescue attempt and wiping the laughter-tears from her eyes. "Your stupidity is only surpassed by your furriness."  
  
Noticing for the first time that day that the sun had sunk considerably into the horizon, Nikai told the girls that they would have to get a move on , as they already wasted a day. So they set off the next morning.  
  
They went on like that for 5 days, travelling from dawn until dusk, until they came to the green pipes which led to the lab. They stood in the pipes, each one hesitant for the last and final step in their journey to find truth, help and history. "So what is the plan of action?" Isis asked, looking at Nikai. He hadn't really thought of this until now - he certainly couldn't just barge in and corner the first Shee. Maybe they would see him at the entrance and help him. They were so brilliant he was sure they would know everything. They must love norns, they made so many different ones. "I'll go in, and ask a nice-looking Shee to help me. Simple enough."  
  
With that he walked towards the Laboratory. Despite his convictions the fear clung to him like the juice of a berry to fur. He straightened up, more as a show to the females than real confidence. He reached the entrance, which was a big, metal door that apparently opened diagonally. Above the door was a nameplate . Mutantis Genea. He made a mental note to ask someone what that meant. He didn't really understand Shee language. Just then, the doors opened , and before he could take a step further , a appalling stench blew into his face, causing a bout of nausea. A waited a minute, then ran inside.  
  
Inside, he could feel the aftermath of something terrible. The shock still hung in the air and there was an uncomfortable silence. Then one spoke. "So, Dunnefisk how do you explain this?" Netalisys' sharp tone of voice sliced through the laboratory. Nikai ducked under the operating table in the middle of the room. He could see one figure slightly leaning back onto a panel of machinery, the one who just spoke. He turned around. On the other side two pairs of feet were standing there , and he leaned over slightly to see beyond what the view from under the table would allow. One was looking around nervously, biting his lip.  
  
The other one looked slightly lighter than the first one - he was turning almost white in the face. His fists were clenched and his mouth twisted into an livid line that seemed engraved into his face. He turned around again. On the other side of the room he saw 3 bottles with something in them. He shaded his eyes against the sharp laboratory lights. Three large bottles stood on a table. He felt himself go numb with disbelief. In those three bottles were...norns?  
  
They certainly resembled norns on some level, but they looked.different. They were much smoother and smaller. The norns were drifting in tinted liquid, bubbling from the supply of oxygen from the base of the bottles. His dilated pupils dashed from one bottle to another. One was orange with black stripes, the other had brown spots and the last was a dark brown colour. He tried to control the dizziness and squinted to read the labels on the bottles. Bengal, Civet, Bruin. What was this?  
  
They didn't look like any norn he had ever seen or heard about. Just then the brown one turned slightly in her liquid heaven and although they were not born yet , Nikai could have sworn he had seen an inkling of a smile on the norn's face. He breathed deeply and lowered his head. He had to calm down , he was becoming dangerously irrational. Why would the Shee make norns thát different if they were to adapt to the same weather conditions than the current norns?  
  
Finally Dunnefisk said : "Shouldn't that question be directed to yourself?" He was trying hard to restrain his anger towards the other Shee - his utter indifference to what just happened was infuriating. His tired eyes moved over the surface of the lab - the machine buttons blinking and the familiar bleeping and whirring..the grey floor with the spilt white puddle that stretched out from under the dead Shee..and the half-demonic Grendel, lying on it's side, with a gigantic claw dangling off the side of the operating table..the big sedation injection, the syringe that they left in the creature after it was administered. Dunnefisk looked at Netalisys in a desperation that made his voice break slightly. "Look at your mistake." The other Shee looked sideways, mortified. "I can't. I don't have to." He then suddenly plucked up and pushed his shoulders back in his usual proud stance. "Well it's over anyway, we should get rid of this.this thing." Netalisys' voice was cold and dead - not betraying any emotion, even if he had felt anything, the others would never be able to tell. Atriscemy looked disgusted. He frowned and after a brief pause, said : "Just kill it? Isn't that a bit drastic? Why can't we just set it free by the volcano - nothing ever comes there anyway and we can plant food sources for them."  
  
Netalisys picked up an injection and toyed with it leisurely while trying to create the impression that he was thinking - he had in fact, already decided how he would warp the proposal. Atriscemy watched his colleague with mixed feelings.  
  
He doubted that the Shee would buy into the idea, but then again, it looked like the weather would change between them. Finally Netalisys delivered his ultimatum : "Ok, we set it free.without food sources." Atriscemy blinked hard and looked downward. He knew there had to be a catch. But..maybe he had a point - Albia couldn't afford to let this creature thrive. Without some source of food the genus would obviously die out very quickly and seeing that he had not had the heart to carry out euthanasia, this was the only sensible solution.  
  
He walked to Storage and picked a heavy-duty bag big enough for the animal. He made his way over to the others. Together they heaved the creature into the huge bag and began dragging it down the tunnel leading to the Splicing Machine. When they arrived, they opened a trapdoor that they had installed a few months earlier while doing research about the volcano. In a cave near the volcano they put the bag down- as they did that it slipped open and a limp arm slided out and rested on the rock cave floor. With that the Shee left, without so much as a glance back.  
  
The Shee were now gone and Nikai was still sitting underneath the table , crouching. He was still stunned by what he had seen. It was like a nightmare, creating images, voices and realities in his head. About these different norns. No other norn would ever know what it's like to have seen life like this. The way the Shee would one day blow life into these things floating in a glass jar. Were norns just little things floating in the bottle called Albia, waiting to be given life? Was life a gift to give? His musings were interrupted by a heartbreaking crying next to him. For the first time he saw the little norn next to him.  
  
It was a regular-looking Hebe norn. He was clinging to the deceased Shee's leg and pressed his tear- stained face to the leg when he wasn't shaking it , in a desperate attempt to awaken his master. His little face was wet and his mouth was twisted into a sob. Then Nikai noticed something strange. The little norn wore a wire-rimmed set of glass on his face. Glasses? What did glasses do? He leaned over to the norn slowly and put his hand on the burgundy-brown fur of the sobbing norn's shoulder. This startled the norn, who had clearly been in so an overpowering sadness that he hadn't noticed Nikai.  
  
"I'm Nikai, a Kai norn - I came here to speak to a Shee." The norn replied: "I know what you are. I know everything about your kind - this Shee had taught me everything about everything in Albia - he is...was my master." A genuine loyalty shone through his voice like a ray of sunshine. Nikai helped him up. "Look, it's no use to hang around here drowning your sorrows with tears...come with me - two other norns are travelling with me.OH which reminds me , do you have Feverfew? I need it for my friend."  
  
The norn stood up and walked to a metal suitcase. He punched a combination of signs and it clicked open. Inside , it was lined with a cream velvet , and in special hollows there were jars with labels on them. The norn picked the one containing the daisy-like flower, with lilac petals. "Here. It's an analgesic and antibacterial treatment." For a moment Nikai was taken aback with the ease that the norn had changed in the last few minutes. Just a moment ago the norn was sobbing and now he was exchanging information as if he had swallowed the Encyclopedia Nornica. "Thanks. So.do you want to join us then?"  
  
The norn considered it for a moment, looked longingly at the Shee and then nodded. "Ok. I should probably be with my own kind."  
  
With that they walked outside and greeted the females who had sat down behind the Cornucopia bush in the shade, peeling foxfire berries and chatting. The stood up when they saw the males coming towards them, curious about the stranger. He came up to them, extended a hand and said: "I'm Asmo. I am partly based on the original norn but I have a new improved genome - I have a larger brain and modified instincts and lobes. I'm an Akamai Canny." The last part of the sentence had a distinct sound of satisfaction - as if he had waited his whole life to tell somebody this.  
  
Isis shook his hand. " Hi Asmo." Skyra was more vivacious - she pulled him to her and hugged him. "Hey Asmo! It's so good to see a fresh face in the group. You know, we've travelled a pretty long way , and it'll be just great if you'll join us, you know, we grow tired of each other sometimes and it will." she couldn't complete her sentence- Isis had stuck a foxfire berry into her mouth and the red juice was now dripping down her chin. "Shut up - you'll scare him away.oh wait..I think you scared him so much, he can't move." Isis said, slightly amused. Indeed ; Asmo was white around the mouth and stood rigid like a twig, looking straight at Skyra, eyes wide with horror.  
  
"Thi..This is a.a Sc..Sc.Sco.Scorpio!" The words came out of his mouth - barely audible due to tension and fear on his part. Nikai shrugged. "Yeah.so..?" Asmo turned to Nikai. "So..Scorpio's are only the most vicious breed of norn created to date - they were originally used to fend off curious norns from the lab - they're very strong and have a flaring temper. They're definitely dangerous." Nikai pointed at Skyra. "Does that look like a dangerous norn to you?" Skyra was standing with her hands on her hips, chewing impatiently at the foxfire berry and rolling her eyes at the bee that hovered nearby. Asmo thought for a moment. "Well, I'd watch her nonetheless. They're unpredictable too." 


	5. Abnornal Behaviour

After fetching cheese from the Cheese Machine nearby, the norns sat down to eat. After lunch the norns walked around to find a suitable place to spend the night - nearby the Tantris tree seemed a good place. They settled down and rested - Asmo told them the whole story of the Shee , how they came to Albia, created various things , all that eventually led to the creation of the norn order. While the others were engrossed in conversation Isis slipped away from the group.  
  
This was boring to her, she had no desire to hear whatever the strange norn was going to tell them - probably trying to convince them that Shee were actually good beings. A familiar cynicism crept up on Isis as she wandered into the lift and down to the big glass dome. Shee were good alright..at killing norns or conveniently sedating them until they knew what test would be done on the norn. Norns were nothing to them, only statistics and snippets of interest - nothing more. Reaching the dome she stopped - in front of the entrance lay a death-cap mushroom. She knew it was ripe by the way the cap had fallen off the stem and the yellow dots were a golden colour. She stared at it. Her body seemed to be rooted to the spot, unable to leave.  
  
Her mind had slowed down to a crawl and all she could think about was the thing she was staring at. She thought back to that day at the Cornucopia bush when she had met Nikai. She picked up the deathcap. Then, as if awakening from a trance, she dropped it angrily and walked off into the direction that she came from , to join the others again.  
  
So for the next few days they remained in the Tantrisberry Forest – until, on the seventh day, Asmo decided to leave his protected place under the Tantrisberry tree and join the others. He had sat huddled up like that for quite some while – fighting the coming-and-going wave of paranoia about being alone and left out in exposure. He had never been without the protection of the Shee , and being educated in all the things Albia had to offer, it was only natural for him to feel this way.  
  
So he wandered off to the Zander Pond, just beneath the Eastern Ocean Tube. It was late afternoon and the tubular glockenspiels were gleaming a rich copper in the dying light. "Is this the only intelligent artefact that they left us with?" He tilted the largest of them upwards, inspected it meticulously. "What can be done with art and music anyway? It is merely for enrichment, and seeing that these norns were obviously on the bottom rung of intelligence, I have to question the Shee's decision to put something as advanced at their disposal."  
  
He pulled up his shoulders in annoyed indifference and walked on. Then he passed a small, green, flickering button embedded in a long metal stem planted in the earth. Asmo frowned, came closer then pushed the button. A deep metal whirring sound arised from underneath him and then the earth began to give way. Asmo lost his balance and fell onto something cold and mouldy – if this was the Shee statue then this was his end.....he didn't want to die! When the shuddering and noise finally stopped, he managed to open one eye. His fur was partly covered in damp soil, and, being very disgusted at this jumped up. His tiny wire-frame spectacles had slid of its usual position and was now clamping his nose shut. He adjusted these in his typical little academic manner – then glanced around to surmise the events of the past few minutes.  
  
He was in fact, standing on a lift. Not the usual bamboo type that were dotted around Albia, but a rusted, metal one. "That's odd, they usually put these kind of lifts in undustrial areas , where norns wouldn't usually go. There's one in the Volcano, one in the Western Ocean, .......and one in the Archive Room!" He was so excited he immediately pushed the down button, eager to see what secrets were being held by the underneath. He went down and the lift stopped in a small room. There was a single candle, made out of Albian Bee Wax and Trumpet Fruit oil – the oil acted as a repellant for little nasty bugs that would be tempted to eat the books and documents.  
  
The whole place was lined from top to botton in bound volumes, with the odd loose paper stuffed inbetween them. Asmo walked closer very cautiously – although he could hardly contain his excitement, this place was obviously very old and dilapidated, judging from the stale odour that hung in the air. As he neared the west side of the room, he leaned closer to look at one of the protruding papers. On it was a series of symbols and scribbles in a thin italic handwriting. Although Asmo had never learnt to read Shee, he did understand some of the words. He shifted his glasses a bit to focus better. "Der protytipe fore ettin benignus constructivis ish ghiden benithe olde booken volums in heares." What? That didn't make sense. Something about a protoype for somehting called et..ett..oh bother, he couldn't even pronounce the thing.  
  
Airily he waved the thought aside and carried on browsing between the books.  
  
Back in the forest, the others had begun worrying. "Oooo golly whiskers, he might be trapped somewhere, or you know, I heard when these bees sting you you can like, swell UP and you get like HUUUUUUGE and then you'r mouth goes all phooomph and you can't get a sound out like, crying for help or anything." Skyra was babbling in her usual teenage manner, not realising she was tensing Nikai up the more she talked. Nikai was pacing up and down , his paws twisted in a knot behind his back, wringing them and unwringing them constantly. "He may have returned to the Lab. I must go search for him.What do you think Isis?" She was watching the two norns with a familiar expression of indifference on her face. "I don't think anything – he's probably found some or other thing and is inspecting it – he's like that you know." Nikai turned to her. "You just don't care, do you?" Isis nodded. "You figured that out by yourself?"  
  
By this time, the norns had grown accustomed to Isis' sharp sense of irony and sarcasm--it was a regular fixture in conversations. Just then, Asmo's sillhouette came into view and the others turned round and waited for him to appear. When he did, he was carrying a massive heap of books, in his tiny arms it looked like a big iceberg, it's tip way over the norn's head. He tottered to where the norns sat and then let go of the heap, making it fall to the ground in a dull thumping sound. As the books hit the ground thick clouds of dust materialized around them , making everyone cough and splutter. Nikai was the first to say something and his voice wheezed through the dry throat. "What the.....what are these and why are you back so late? Why didn't you tell anyone where you were going?"  
  
Asmo smiled widely. "This is all the Shee's wisdom. Here they have documented all their trials, instructions, and mistakes. But...also the successes. I don't have to remind you that we are among their greatest creations, my fellow norns." His voice grew heavy and serious. "We can only hope to find out how we were invented, created and what we can become in the future." He took the top book and flipped to the middle of it. Isis had had enough. "Shut up. Just shut up you little smartass, I don't want to hear one more word out of you. It's always Shee this, Shee that, I'm sick and TIRED of it." Her voice was escalating and she was pacing around angrily. Asmo was tensing up, she could see that – he had developed a slight tremor and he was turning pale. She continued nevertheless. "And I don't CARE if the Shee were good to you because, damnit, they werent to us. We all got rejected by them, experimented and ridiculed. YOU are the outcast here...not us, YOU!" She walked up to him irately and shook his shoulders.  
  
Then suddenly Asmo became totally impassive. His whole body relaxed and there was a completely blank expression on his face. "Youre right. I don't belong here. My place was with the Shee." The simplicity of this statement struck Nikai. He remembered that day he found Asmo – that day he had also interchanged from being totally overwhelmed by emotion to detached. Nikai couldn't help but wonder about this.  
  
Isis piped down and walked off into the night, furious with everyone and herself. Immediately Asmo continued with his fumblings in the book. He splayed it open in front of the others, and pointed to signs the others could not understand. "The age of innocence has ended my fellow norns, we can learn everything the Shee has kept from us all those years. How we evolved, how to become immortal.EVERYTHING" In speaking this last word his voice was hushed, implying a sort of secrecy.  
  
Nikai stood back for a moment. "What if we don't want to know everything? What if they kept it from us because they knew the knowledge would be too much and too complex for us to understand?" Asmo looked impatient with his ignorant friend. "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. They are great creators, and with this knowledge we can be too! Don't you see? They have kept this from us because they fear the consequences – that we will achieve the same greatness, and create...create a SHEE!!!!" A terrifying, evil laughter filled the air as Asmo laughed, his normally very harmless norny face twisted into a scary, strange expression, his eyes spitting little flames of manic thoughts. The other norns were now scared. Norns never behaved like this. In the meantime, Isis had come back and was standing in the shadows the norns casted against the cave wall behind them.  
  
She was feeling the strange familiar feeling again. The numbness that crept up from her feet, the sweat prickling her neck and her ears that were becoming oversensitive – the smallest sound was giving her a headache. This headache was only worsened by the sensation of pressure in the pit of her stomach. Maybe she had made the wrong choice. No, there was no choice, she had made none – it simply happened.  
  
Skyra was becoming scared of Asmo, so she decided to go to sleep, and she naivity she wished that his face would disappear as soon as she closed her eyes. As she was about to stand up, Asmo grabbed her arm forcefully and pulled her down, making her fall sideways. "You're not leaving until I say so. I have the book, so you have to listen to me." "What is the matter with you? Since you have brought this book here you've been acting very strange, out of character and violent.  
  
Norns aren't violent – we were made to be peaceful creatures." Nikai said. Asmo's face turned a light crimson. He practically flew up from the ground and started shouting at the small group huddled around the pile of books. "What would you know!? You're just a stupid Kai! I'm an Akamai Canny! Does this mean nothing to you? I am totally, utterly and undeniably superior to you! The leader of the Shee created me especially for this purpose – I am the apex of the genus, my brain is much more highly developed than yours!" Just then his bright blue eyes glazed over.  
  
They widened and seemed to be fixated to something beyond the horizon. His face relaxed and – then his body started jerking violently – spasms were rippling through his body and then suddenly, everything was still. He collapsed to the ground, only to reveal Isis, standing right behind him. She stood motionless, holding a wooden dagger that dripped of yellow clear fluid. "Just sorry your immune system isn't that well developed." 


	6. What now?

They were in shock. Isis seemed set in stone behind the corpse. There was a while in which no one could think of anything to say – the air was thick with horror and anticipation. Finally, Skyra began to cry quietly, her shoulders shaking that Nikai reached out and pulled her closer, not once taking his eyes off Isis. As they looked at Isis, it seemed like she was in a trance and didn't register anything that was going on. Slowly she began looking around, seeming disorientated at first, then more confidently. Cautiously she asked, "What happened?" At this Skyra couldn't control herself anymore and almost on the point of being hysterical, jumped up and ran to the air root of a Tantris tree, almost beside herself with grief. Nikai remained in front of Isis, his cheek muscles twitching in nervous anger. "You killed him." Isis looked down slowly. Her face betrayed no emotion and although Nikai was mad at her, he knew she grieved for him. A part of him felt sorry for her, and he wanted to be able to comfort her. However, that didn't change anything.  
  
"How did I do it?" Out of anything that Isis could have said, this was the least expected thing he could think of. "Dagger – how could you not know, you still have it in your hand." Isis looked down and dropped it as if it was on fire. "Of course." After a pause that continued for several minutes, she added, "What do we do with him?" Nikai had regained his composure and answered: "I'll take him to the underground lake in the morning." Isis balled her fists and kicked the air in front of her. " Damnit Nikai, I'm not your baby! I asked your advice, not your stupid help!" Nikai felt himself anger again. "You women norns are all the same. You want this, you don't want that, do you even know where the pond is?" Isis felt embarrassed and lowered her head to the side, her voice slightly hushed. "You can give me directions." "Go down to the Botanical Garden lift , then down the small industrial style lift - its right of the Shee statue." With that collected the still shivering Skyra into his arms and carried her away to the shelter, leaving Isis alone with her confusion.  
  
After the whole ordeal the Shee were feeling exhausted, both physically and mentally. . The lab was humid and hot as usual and the heat clung to them like a thick invisible cloak. Dunnefisk had taken a seat at the far end in the main room of the laboratory. Atriscemy was gathering Morphex's notes, bending down to pick up the notes strewn across the floor by the fury of what happened earlier. Dunnefisk spoke : "I say we lay low for a while - this has been a considerable blow for all of us." He shifted uncomfortably. Atriscemy carefully arranged the papers on the desk in front of him and then spoke up. "Yes, but what do we do while lying low?" Dunnefisk thought for a few moments then answered. "We wait. It will take a few seasons to clean this place up and rearrange the lab – we're closing the Artificial Life section." Netalisys burst out in outrage. "What!? You are stupider than I thought! Either that or lazy – do you realize that that means giving up half a lifetime's research!? Closing down the artificial life section is out of the question, what do we do after that – I am definitely not going to waste my expertise on creating little meaningless plants and critters." He practically spat out the last words.  
  
Dunnefisk was losing his patience with his colleague – Netalisys' narcissism was too much to take at times. Netalisys was never adverse at questioning his superiors – even when the reasons for their actions were clear and logical. "I am second in command , that means YOUR SENIOR , and seeing that the circumstances don't allow us to go on with research and creation anyway, I don't see the use of keeping the section open – its just depleting our power source. Besides, we don't have any design for new creatures and we're well past our 18th norn type." In all this time Atriscemy had not said anything else and was quietly slipping out of the lab – the arguments never ended when those two were at it and already being in shock, he needed to get some fresh air and do it outside of these suffocating quarters.  
  
For the first time Atriscemy really saw Albia. Sure, he has seen the planet before, but this time he was really looking. Being bunched up in a laboratory for year after year takes its toll. He wandered farther and farther from the lab, admiring shrubbery, bridges, the waterfall, the artistry of the lifts, the tiny blueberries that was his idea. He smiled. As he walked on his mind kept slipping back to what the two Shee said earlier. He had to agree with Netalisys – creating creatures was a lifetime's work and he loved it. Maybe it was a bit drastic to just close the section down. He saw a pond glimmering in the distance – the sun was at it highest, and the it was becoming more stuffy the farther he walked onto the Zanderpond jetty. Then he stopped. He had not seen this lift here for a very long time. He turned to the green shiny buttons and felt over them with his fingertips. Then pushed one. Immediately a whirring, metal sound filled his brain and the lift slowly began clanking downward.  
  
He waited - patiently but not without a little angst. Finally the lift stopped amidst a cloud of stale dust. Coughing and waving his hand in front of his face so he could breathe, he stumbled out of the lift. Then he found himself in the middle of a small room stacked with books from top to bottom, every wall groaning under the incredible load. Atriscemy looked around incredulously – he had never seen this much documentation in one place – there was nothing like this in the main lab. He walked around slowly, his hands touching over various titles. Then he felt a piece of paper scrunching underfoot. He bent down and tried to iron out the worst damage. He looked closer, there was something written on it , sort of like a heading. Der protytipe fore ettin benignus constructivis ish ghiden benithe olde booken volums in heares. He frantically searched for the E referencing disk and upon discovery, took out all the books that was under it, paging feverishly to the Et at the top of the page. There it was. Ettinus Benignus. Maybe they wouldnt have to close artificial life after all... 


	7. The First Meeting

She sat like that for a few minutes. Then, a loud metal clanging sound came from the back chambers – the sound ripped the silence and shot around the room as it echoed. Isis immediately jumped up and pressed herself against the wall. She had always thought the chamber was totally deserted – after all, the feared Shee statue was here.  
  
Despite her fear, curiosity took over and cautiously she began inching forward – the only sound now audible in the air was the muffled sound of her fur inching against the dusty rock of the chamber. Her lungs were burning and her throat dry – she didn't know if it was the finality of everything that was sinking in or the start of the effects from the Shee statue.  
  
She had now reached the end of the wall. To her left would be a certain death, she knew that and yet it had sort of a morbid appeal to her : how would it feel to choke to death? Maybe white lights would swirl above her like when she....No – death never came when she did that. She turned her head to the right of the chamber – the only light shone down like a solid ray into the chamber – it had almost an angelic, white quality to it...things always looked more beautiful when seen from the eyes of a damned...  
  
She closed her eyes for a moment. Then flung herself forward with all her power. She coughed as the impact of her body raised a wave of dust and she looked up from the asphalt into gleaming amethyst eyes. It began to glow powerfully and the more she looked at the statue the more she felt fear and pain – it had engulfed her like a giant bubble. Her body lay twisted in the half-dark and a crooked, pained smile was on her face, a small voice groaning where no one could hear her. Then , just before the dark took over she felt the faint sensation of someone lifting her. Through the patches of unconsciousness she wondered if this levitation had something to do with the white thing running towards her just before she blacked out.  
  
The sun was already shining brightly through the tree-leaves when Nikai woke up. He was slightly stiff from lying on one side the whole night – and his arm had lost feeling early in the morning hours. He shifted very slightly not to disturb Skyra, who was lying cradled by his arm and holding him. The previous night had been an emotionally turbulent one and he could not resist Skyra when she crept up to him.  
  
Daylight made everything seem more awkard – suddenly he felt that familiar feeling again – the same one he had felt when he first saw Isis. Being a Kai had its downsides, namely that he became attached to these norns very quickly -that was just a Kai thing – he shrugged it off in his mind. He couldn't help if he felt strong feelings toward her. Somewhere in him there was something urging him to stay, but finally he shifted farther away until Skyra's arm dropped off him and he was free. He took a deep breath and stretched his arms high above his head, then crossed them behind his head, standing around. It was beginning to grow warmer and he was hungry. The nearby buzzing of bees didn't exactly help, they were a sure sign that there was a pot brimful of honey somewhere near here. They had not eaten since Asmo...Isis...he didn't want to think about it – that would just raise more questions that he didn't want to answer.  
  
Suddenly something touched his back and he turned around , finding himself face to face with Skyra. Her eyes seemed different this morning, not the colour but the expression - as if something had changed. She looked up at him from under her lush eyelashes – her white pixie-norn hair was a mass of disarray and a strand had slipped away and lay seductively on her cheek, giving her a sleepy, sexy look. Nikai had to stop himself from reaching out and smoothing the strand back. It was a simple action, but he knew how females worked – you do something trivial, and they see it as symbolic of your so-called love. But still....it was hard for him to seem neutral when things were brewing inside. Then as if she knew what he was thinking, she slipped her hands in his. Immediately he felt guilty, like he had touched something dirty, and Nikai untangled her arms from him and stepped away, trying to break the strange atmosphere that had been hanging in the air ever since the night before.  
  
"Are you hungry? I heard some bees nearby, so I could just get us some honey or berries, whichever you want." She sighed, then smiled in her usual preppy way. "Anything Nikai, you know I'm easy." He started off to the bridge and thought about how her last statement shattered the whole vibe he had been feeling all morning. He wasn't sure of her anymore. Was she playing at something? Finally he had managed to gather enough honey to gather one and a half pots, and began carrying them back. He reprimanded himself – she had been nothing but nice to him all along, it wasn't fair for him to judge her based on one morning. He discarded the train of thought as he reached their camping place and set the pots down. "Breakfast is served."  
  
Atriscemy was fervently grabbing bottles off the bamboo shelves and after quickly reading their labels, tossed them across the floor or fed the contents to the delirious norn, depending on which chemical it contained. Finally he found an Arnica / Feverfew syrup. He unscrewed the bottle top with endless impatience and shook it upside down. Due to the age of the mixture, what was once a light yellowish syrup had now become a dark, but clear gel-like substance that oozed out of the bottle. He held it to the norn's mouth and she gulped it down. Almost instantly her eyelids began fluttering, trying to open, but being to weak to do so.  
  
Satisfied that he had found the cure, the Shee set off to find a large leaf which could cover the norn – saving body-heat at this time was extremely important for survival.  
  
Hours later the norn awoke. It was now almost dusk and the last frail rays of sunlight were coming in from the bamboo windows. Isis sat upright – she was in a bamboo hut, it had little shelves, a sturdy brown pot and various little bottles containing syrups, pills, plants and dried critters. The shelves were lower than would normally be useful to a norn. Through the half-darkness in the hut she could make out another creature, slouching in a tiny chair. It was a tall creature, light of complexion and completely without fur. As quiety as she could she stood up, walked closer to the creature, very carefully.  
  
Bending forward she closely inspected the face, the white coat he wore and the quaint little snoring sound he made. Atriscemy was waking up. He blinked once and then he was wide awake because at that moment Isis screamed as loudly as she could. The fear was tangible in her voice and Atriscemy didn't know if he had to try to put his hands over her mouth or over his ears.  
  
He reached out and caught her, help her down and took the leaf-blanket and shoved it into her mouth – she was violently kicking and slapping him, but he held strong. He looked her in the eyes, trying to establish some sort of connection as he spoke : "Norn, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a Shee – I know you've never seen one before, but I'm harmless. Really." With that she settled down and after a while he took the blanket out of her mouth. She looked at him with unconcealed contempt. "Harmless?... Your'e murderers. Sadists. Heartless. " He frowned. "How would you know?" A dry laugh slipped out from her mouth. "You experimented on me. On all of us – when we're no longer needed." Atriscemy's frown deepened. "I'm afraid I have no idea what you are talking about. What is your name norn?" Isis waited a few moments. "Isis."  
  
Atriscemy stood up, paced around the hut. Isis leaned back onto her elbows, an when she spoke to the Shee she could not keep the suspicion out of her voice. "Are you sure you don't know what I'm talking about?" He nodded. "Positive. Shee never experimented on Norns, Morphex had specifically made a rule against it. He always said that norns were our greatest creations and that we should respect them as little beings on their own." Isis lay back, couldn't help thinking about Asmo – that sounded like something he would have said.  
  
"Were there any norns that stayed with you in your homes?" Atriscemy smiled at Isis. "We don't have homes, we live in the laboratory – the thing is..." he kneeled next to her "Shee are pretty commited to their work– But to answer your question....um....I didn't have a norn , and I don't think Dunnefisk did, um....I'm pretty sure that Netalisys did NOT have one. Wait – There was a norn, a sort of protégé of Morphex. He kept the norn and taught it all kinds of things, he wanted to see what the new Akamai genome was capable of." Something in Isis wanted to recognise the name he had just spoke. "Was his name Asmo?" Atriscemy pondered this question for a minute then he shook his head. "I don't know, I just had brief contact with him on certain occasions, he was always with Morphex. He was a strange little norn though..."  
  
Atriscemy's eyes narrowed at the thought of the time that the Shee and norn spent together and he began to remember times that Morphex would sit at his desk making little notes while the norn played around with gadgets. From Atriscemy's vantage point from the door, his leader looked worried indeed. Of course Morphex would never burden the other Shee with his troubles...  
  
One of the few times he and the norn were alone for a checkup, he would act rather strangely. As if he thought he knew more than the Shee. He would constantly get this eerie glow in his eyes when he talked about scientific things and when he was reprimanded he would grow quiet and passive. Knowing that this was a sensitive issue, Atriscemy did not want to upset either Morphex or the norn by telling either that he found the norn strange, so like many things in life, he kept it to himself.  
  
Finally he sat down next to Isis. "So..this is the first time I meet a Feral norn, tell me all about your life, I'm really curious about what you have experienced in Albia." Isis backed off slightly, folded her arms in front of her chest in her usual defiant manner and looked at him distrustingly. "I have no reason to trust you." Atriscemy's face fell in dissapointment. "I know, and I cannot give you a good reason, but tell me this : what have I done to you that is harmful in these few hours that we have been together?" Isis had to admit that he had only been gentle with her, and gave the Shee the benefit of the doubt – she was not about to let him know that she trusted him.  
  
As the night grew on she told him about her life so far, the friends she had met and the strange ailment that plagued her. When she mentioned the reaction she gets when she eats fruit, Atriscemy looked slightly worried. "What?" she asked. "I am not sure of what I am about to say , but the side effects sound familiar my dear Isis. A long time ago we were creating potions and medicines to aid the norns , and this one sounds like it could have been one of the Antibody Syrups that prevented norns from eating harmful things." Immidiately Isis sprang up and resumed her earlier defiant stance. "I knew it! How can you say you are harmless when you CREATE things to harm me?" He tried to stand up and held his hand out apologetically. The look on his face spelt out defeat and it was clear that he was torn apart by what he had discovered. "I don't know if that is correct Isis, it may be an allergic reaction, all I'm saying is that we may be able to cure it. That 's what you want isnt it?"  
  
Then suddenle she lurched forward and kicked him in the bleak white shin as hard as she could and ran away. Atriscemy sat in a heap with his head in his hands – he felt miserable. He desperately wanted to help the norn but she was completely opaque. He sat like that for a while before he started back for the lab. 


	8. Relationship Change

Back at camp, the Scorpio and Kai norns were sitting about impatienty waiting for their friend. The sun had already set and the norns decided to make a bonfire to keep them warm , since it seemed like they were going to spend another night on the Mushroom Bridge. The night was slightly chilly and the leaves rustled as a lazy Albian breeze from the Eastern Ocean came by.  
  
The day had been spent lazing about and playing games. Nikai had found a little blue and yellow toy car, it was relatively unused judging from its scratchless exterior. It had taken a while to figure out that the car, when pushed could run on its own and didn't have to be pushed by hand. Now Nikai sat across from Skyra at the fire, her face reddened by the licking flames and her cheeks turning flushed from the heat. Although the surroundings looked creepy in the half-dark, Skyra's chattering lent a familiar and cosy feeling to the environment. "...And I told Gopher that he could NOT have a piece of my fur! I mean, some norns can get SOOO obsessive about me, its just unreal. And besides, he is a ...you know....well he's kinda ugly actually, he has like, brown fur and that is sooo not going to mix well with my spotless blue fur! I mean!!" In all this time Nikai had not said a word and was just staring at her, listening in slight disinterest.  
  
"How old are you Skyra?" She suddenly stopped and looked at him, not knowing exactly what to expect his reaction to be. "youth." He smiled. "Alright. You were saying?" Just as Skyra was about to continue, something came stumbling out of the bushes, almost plummeting into the ground right in front of their fire. Isis was resting on all fours, totally out of breath. Before Nikai moved towards her he could see her hands , which were held in tight fists, her knuckles whitening through her fur. He stirred into motion and instinctively he took her in his arms, trying to calm her down – it looked like she had been through a lot.  
  
He stroked her shoulder and looked up at Skyra in a silent plea of help. To his utter surprize, he saw a look of disgust flit past her face as she looked at them, then , as soon as he blinked, it was gone. She was oozing sympathy and stood up with a tantrisberry in her hand, coming towards them. She sat down next to Isis, and put the berry in front of her. "You poor thing, you must be starving, are you ok?" After a while Nikai pushed her face upwards and looked at her. She looked bewildered, but more mad than anything. "Where were you Isis? Are you ok? You look like youre on the verge of suicide." He had thought he was being tactful and was therefore caught off-guard when she started crying. A kind of silent sobbing, looking as she was being wrought up inside and there was no other way out than tears.  
  
Isis felt safe for the first time in a long while. These feelings had been cropped up since the day she left with Asmo, feelings of guilt, depression, abandonement. She couldn't stand it being herself. She wanted to get out somehow, be another norn, just be normal for a few days. Nikai's mentioning of suicide had broken the last fortification she had. She did not want to break down in front of them, but it was unexpected, even for her. She was definitely not ready to admit to what she had tried with the Shee statue.  
  
Then she extracted herself from Nikai's grip and sidled up to the fire. She sat like that for a while, then said : "I met a Shee today." She looked up to Nikai who was about to express his disbelief when she held a finger up and said: "...I don't know where he is now and I don't know anything ok, so don't even ask. Im too tired anyway." Skyra smiled sweetly, but chided "What, no sarcasm tonight?" Isis shot her a poisonous glance and then said : "Im going to bed." With that she stood up and walked off to a darker spot near the big Glass bottle.  
  
Nikai was feeling like he was in the middle of some sort of Twilight zone – first Isis kills a norn, then Skyra seems all weird and up to something, now Isis comes back and says that she has met a Shee. These women were going to drive him bonkers. He could only shake his head in disbelief. Maybe tomorrow will be less...well...weird. 


	9. Back in the Lab

An hour after sunset a very exhausted Atriscemy had walked into the laboratory.  
  
He couldn't forget the conversation with Isis. It was quite disconcerting if anything – she was convinced that some Shee had experimented on her. Absentmindedly he entered the lab, not noticing the water that was still on the floor from earlier. He went up to his section and when the door hissed as it closed behind him, he walked to the Medics cabinet.  
  
It was at the back of the room, a tall narrow cabinet, the tiny uniform bottles arranged in groups according to the ailment it treated. Each group was in turn, arranged alphabetically. Atriscemy had always been someone that paid great attention to the finest detail – a charactaristic much lauded by Prof Morphex. His finger traced the breadth of the glass until it stopped on a label : "Antibiotics." He opened the glass case and had to narrow his eyes to focus on the bottles' labels. The treatment wasn't there. He wasn't really sure what to look for – Isis had told him very little, only that it had something to do with fruit. As far as he knew, Shee didn't make an treatment that prevented norns from eating fruit – only poisonous substances. In any event – all the treatments were logged by Morphex, so it was probably in the Archive Room. He couldn't return now, it was already dark and he was tired.  
  
With his mind off the problem temporarily, he noticed that the lab was uncharacteristically quiet. The door hissed open again as he walked towards it, and he went out to search for one of his colleagues. In the main room he found Dunnefisk, sitting silently at Morphex's desk. For the first time Atriscemy noticed the water, and little pieces of glass,for the larger pieces had been removed. He walked over to the Shee and carefully touched his shoulder. Dunnefisk slowly looked up and then Atriscemy saw the tiny norn cradled in his lap. It was so small it could fit comfortably in two hands. He recognised the norn from the jar that had stood on the table under the big tube light. For the first time Atriscemy saw Dunnefisk sad, as if he was grieving silently for the dead norn. So even wise Shee were breakable...  
  
He sat next to his colleague, but couldn't think of any words of consolation. Of course these norns were just as important to him as to Dunnefisk, he was just glad he wasn't here when it happened. Finally he spoke: "Netalisys?" The name was like a beesting ; Atriscemy could have guessed what happened – his less liked colleague sometimes knew no limits to his anger. His absense also suggested his guilt – straight after the deed he made an exit, probably to some deserted place where no one would think to go – or off to his section, where no one would want to go. "Are the Bengal, Civet and Bruin norns still ok?" He got a nod of confirmation for an answer. "You have to let go some time Dunnefisk. The only way you are going to get closure is to let it float away to some little norn heaven that we don't know about." Still the Shee said nothing, just sat there looking at the norn. "Yes. I'll go." With that he left the lab, and Atriscemy shifted onto his seat.  
  
He laid on his arms. These past few hours were the uttermost exhausting in his entire life. Emotionally, physically, mentally. He felt wrung out like a towel. He propped his chin up on his arm, not thinking of anything in particular, when a stack of papers caught his eye.  
  
He dragged them closer and saw that it was those very papers that he had gathered earlier in the week, just after Morphex's unexpected death. His handwriting was thin and italic. This reminded him of the Ettinus Benignus blueprints he had found in the Archive Room – he took these out of his pocket and added them to the stack in front of him. Today was not the time to tell Dunnefisk, he would tell him some other time. He rifled through the other papers and his eye caught something that sparked recognition. There was a paper with the heading : Norn Study : Asmo Akamai Canny . Asmo!! The norn that Morphex had, the same one that Isis mentioned. His eyes eagerly sped over the page. His earlier suspicions were confirmed.  
  
The norn displays very high intelligence, so that part of my research was successful. He is an swift learner, and his perceptions are much more advanced compared to his normal peers.To my innermost regret the typical faults mentioned in my books are also present. Due to the highly advanced stage of his intelligence, he has developed a complicated, almost schizophrenic personality, moving from gentle to fierce in a matter of minutes. The intelligence has also caused complications with the rest of his anatomy : he has weak eyes and is not very strong – I have no formal explanation for this. Apart from his appearance he seems to share no other traits with other norns – he will inevetably develop a severe kind of dementia later in life. It saddens me to write this :if the elements do not kill him, he will do it himself.  
  
Atriscemy was speechless. That explains everything. He sat back in his chair, arms crossed in front of his chest. Isis would want to know this – it would surely make her feel better. He decided that tomorrow first thing he would set out to find her, the Archive Room forgotten for the time being. As sleep slowly descended on the exhausted Shee, his last thoughts were of the tormented norn. 


	10. Maturity

The atmosphere that Nikai had felt the day before had returned, he was convinced something was different, but couldn't put his finger on it. Having Isis back from her journey made it even more strained, if possible. If things did change, she was too reclusive in her own world to really notice it – by noon she had gotten up from her restless slumber and slumped towards the fireplace in the middle of their camping site. The rocks had was carefully arranged to circle the wood and tiny patterns had formed in the earth where embers had jumped out of the fire. She sat down next to it for some warmth - she was shivering, partly from cold, partly from sleep and energy deprivation. She felt burnt out like the fire beside her. She just wanted to stare into it. Forget. Not think. She sat for a few more minutes, the figure etched out by sunlight streaming through the tantrisberry forest canopy. She got up, looked for Nikai and finally found him where he was fiddling with the toy car he had found the day before.

She walked up to him. "I'm going into the forest, don't come and look for me....I'll come back when I want." Nikai did not turn around to watch her as she trudged off in the direction of the bridge. A few minutes later, Skyra pitched up with a bunch of trumpet fruit flowers in her arms, apparently for no particular reason. He stood up from where he was sitting and dusted off his hands, then looked at Skyra with interest. She sighed, sounding bothered. "Where is she off to?" Nikai shook his head. "Going to sort herself out I hope – she's acting strangely again." Skyra blew a stray white hair out of her face and rolled her eyes skyward. "When was she not like this?" Her reply surprised Nikai again – he was almost sure that he had heard some annoyed undertone in her voice. Before he could ask her what was going on, she had waltzed away, seemingly happy with just being here.

As dusk settled in, the forest seemed to come to life – everywhere there were fireflies and other tiny insects flitting from one leaf to another. The campfire was burning as usual, a flaming centrepiece to the silence that hung between the two norns. A while into roasting ants, Skyra got up and walked towards the tantris tree. Standing on her tiptoes, she plucked a Tantrisberry from its stem, the juicy fruit denting where her fingers pressed. She carefully took a stone, cut a little circle off the top of the fruit, and squeezed it a little. She looked down into it – the inside of the fruit was becoming more of a liquid pulp. Then she walked over to Nikai and held it out to him. "Our Elder norn said that Tantrisberries were supposed to have chemicals in them that make you sleep better. Drink this – you deserve a good night sleep after everything you had to go through with Isis." She smiled sweetly and convincingly. Nikai shook his head and frowned lightly. "Skyra, as far as I know, Tantrisfruit don't make you sleep better, in fact..."

Just then, Skyra bent down and straddled herself on top of Nikai. With her free hand she traced patterns in his hair, playing for time. She cocked her head sideways and spoke softly : "Oh come on, you know you want to...Look, I'll take a bite first." With that she gently took a bite, her teeth puncturing the bumpy red skin of the fruit. The bite was slow and seductive – she knew he was looking at her every move. When she pulled away her mouth was wet with red juice.

Nikai was almost hypnotized with her, the way she moved, the fruit she held. Without saying anything, he took the fruit and ate it - Skyra stood up and resumed her position at the opposite end of the fire. She tried not to smile too openly. Of course Tantrisberries didn't make you sleep better....it was an aphrodisiac.

The night grew on and morning came – the sun shy behind the big leaves of the forest. Like a few nights earlier, Skyra was lying against Nikai again. Now he really had a chance to look at her – she looked so young, innocent even. Even though she grew up with a bunch of Scorpios, her face was virtually unscarred, which was more than he could say for Isis. She had a blemish, an _imperfection_ actually, just above her left eye. He looked down at Skyra, and his hand moved to her face . The movement of air woke Skyra up and she blinked sleepily until the norn opposite her came into focus. She smiled and went back to sleep.

In the lab the angst was gone but the atmosphere still subdued. Atriscemy had woken up, his whole body stiff from sleeping in the chair the whole night. He looked down at the pile of papers , suddenly remembering what he came back for. He got up slowly, stretched a bit, then started to rummage through the papers to look for the blueprints. Finally he found them and started off to the Physical Build section.

There he found Dunnefisk sleeping in a chair, half of his body dangling off sideways. Atriscemy touched his shoulder and he instantly woke up, looking decidedly disorientated. Under his eyes were dark circles, evidence of a restless night. He stood up slowly and rubbed his head with a wrist. "What time is it?" "Atriscemy looked at his sympathetically. "Almost noon. How are you feeling?" Dunnefisk managed a half-hearted, lopsided grin. "Like I look." Atriscemy edged onto the counter next to them and held the papers in front of him. "I think I have your solution. D'you remember those blueprints from way back that Morphex drew?" Dunnefisk nodded vaguely. "I don't recall the creature genus though, it couldn't have been all that great if I don't even remember that." Atriscemy spread the papers in front of Dunnefisk on the white surface. "Meet Ettinus Benignus. The small and scraggly-looking saviour of our lab." Dunnefisk sifted through the papers and shook his head and then looked up at his colleague.


	11. New life

Dunnefisk sifted through the papers, shook his head and looked up at his colleague. "Either I'm too tired to understand what exactly youre on about, or you just don't make sense full stop." Atriscemy shook his head impatiently : "This is the only thing that is going to keep our careers going – its not a norn, not a monster, we don't even KNOW what it is, but its perfect!" Dunnefisk looked doubtful despite Atriscemy's efforts. "There's one factor youre not reckoning with." The cynical look on the Shee's face seemed to be fixed these days – the defeat lodged in his eyes like a splinter that no one could remove.

"Dunnefisk…I know. I know….really. Then we don't really have a choice but exclude him." "We're a team, Atris, we are specialists, we don't know the first thing about creating brain tissue or neurons." Atriscemy sat and thought for a while and then jumped up, surprizing himself with an answer. "But you know who did?" " What…..oh no….we can't raid the archives posthumously, that's just wrong…it's…it's…disrespectful." "No it's common sense – and the only source we have for an alternative."

With that the two Shee set off to the Archive Room, all the while talking about the new project. A few days later they returned with the necessary documentation and restored enthusiasm.

On their way to the Archive Room they had stopped on numerous places and took samples of plants they had never encountered before – probably evolutionary descendants of the original ones they planted when they first came to Albia. They were amazed at how much the environment had changed in the time that they were practically confined to their laboratory.

Upon return they unpacked everything and then settled down to study the blueprints. Dunnefisk spread the blueprints across a wide part of desk and supported himself on his arms while he studied the instructions.

After a while shook his head slightly and looked up at Atriscemy, who was also inspecting the papers. "We can't do this." Atriscemy brushed off the comment with a " You just have to have faith and be positive." Dunnefisk replied agitatedly. " No I mean we can physically not do this. I went to check for synaps-endings in Netalisys's department just before we left and I couldn't find anything. He overturned everything before he left so we couldn't go on without him, the cunning bastard."

"So we're back to square one."

"Yep. I hate to say I told…"

"Isnt there something we can do? We've got pretty much everything except a brain."

Dunnefisk chuckled dryly. "Kinda sounds like the Shee back home."

Atriscemy let a skew smile slide onto his face. "That would have been funny if we werent so desperate."

"Ok youre right. I think we should take a break and think about possible alternatives."

With that they put paperweights onto the sheets of paper and walked around, searching for some inspiration within the depressing confines of the laboratory.

The older Shee's eyes wandered over the various metal cabinets that lined the main room's walls. Labels like "Breed Concepts", "Planetary Studies" and "Prototypes" were among them. The last name sparked an idea with Dunnefisk and he pried open the door carefully. Inside he found a white plant, partly rotten with flies growing from where there were supposed to be leaves. The label read "Self sustaining carnivorous plant." From the same cabinet came a long water-filled rod, a brown disk and a pink brain-like structure.

At that moment Dunnefisk studied the brain with vested interest and was on the verge of announcing a victory when he noticed that the brain was very small and that it was incomplete. His colleague though, saw him holding the brain and paced over excitedly , congratulating him. Dunnefisk silenced Atriscemy by telling him his observations.

"This brain has important parts missing and other parts are very undeveloped. The creature that uses this brain would almost not survive, nevermind save our careers."

Atriscemy's smile faded for the second time that day. It seems as if odds were constantly stacked against them. Still searching for a shred of hope though, he pushed.

"Ok so what _exactly_ is wrong with it?"

"Well.." Dunnefisk lifted the brain so that the bright laboratory light shone directly onto it. " The pituary gland, responsible for the creature's growth, is almost non-existent. So is the Cerebrum. The Cerebrum is the central of all intelligent thought. The only part that seems intact is the cerebellum , the centre of reflexes and instincts."

"So what we basically have here is a programmable dummy."

Suddenly the idea of a totally predictable creature did not sound that bad. Nevertheless, it would be unethical to create a living creature that was totally dependent on their creators – he told Atriscemy as much.

Atriscemy went to rummage through Netalisys's books on brain structure. It still gave him the jitters to step into his nemesis's territory. Finally he found something that could prove relevant. It was Morphex's notebook.

"According to this, the earliest brain's devised by Shee, well , Morphex actually, was exactly like this. Small glands and all.

"So this is a complete brain?"

"Yes, just a very primitive one. It would be like creating a cavenorn."

"Well, that changes the situation somewhat." Dunnefisk replied, relieved. "Maybe we do need a harmless creature in Albia. After what happened with that Grendel…"

Neither Shee had to speak for the horrifying mental images to return in painstaking detail – every second dragging past like a movie in slow motion.

"Well now we have the brain, you just have to devise some sort of look for the creature. Do you have anything in mind?"

Dunnefisk shook his head. "Haven't given it any thought, really." While saying that he lazily leant backwards, putting his hands onto the counter. At that exact moment he must have put his hand on something slippery because the one second the Shee was still standing next to Atriscemy, the next he was lying on the floor.

Atriscemy burst out laughing, and helped his perplexed colleague from the floor.

"What was that for?" Dunnefisk asked.

Atriscemy burst out laughing once more and blurted out inbetween high-pitched titters to reply: "You're crediting me with a mushroom's job, my friend."

The other Shee swung round and looked at where he had put his hand earlier. There, on the edge of the counter lay a small button-like mushroom. He picked it up, inspecting the little culprit closeby. It had a off-white colour and it seemed to have a soft, fuzzy texture.

"Did we name these plants when we brought them back?"

"Erm…..nope." Atriscemy didn't really know what the name of a mushroom had to do with anything.

"Ah. I will see you in a few hours, ok?" Dunnefisk walked to his department, and would only emerge 5 hours later.


	12. New life contd

The cave was suspiciously dark, with only a dark red light emanating from the volcano a few hundred metres under the cave floor. The hotness and humidity did nothing to rid the place of its horrid, musty stench – a fitting smell for a place so vile.

In the middle of the cave the bag lay still…….then the claw that was casually lying outside it contracted slowly, like something waking from a very long sleep.

The thick, crooked fingers flexed again, carefully. The bag started to move and out creeped a big, brusque creature – as his red eyes surveyed his surroundings, it glowed with an animal evil, accentuated by the ruby light show from the volcano.

He bent over, the hump on its back now more visible, and sniffed the food closeby. Then he started eating the food ; tearing through the potatoes like they were paper and thrusting clawfuls into his already full mouth.

The sheer gluttony frightened Netalisys, but at the same time fascinated and horrified, he could do nothing but watch the grotesque act of the grendel feeding for the first time.

After the animal fed, he laid down to rest, his huge belly heaving with the load of food that he almost swallowed whole .It wasn't long before Netalisys heard a contented snoring coming from the Grendel. The Shee carefully crept out of the dark that served as his invisibility and walked to the edge of the cave. Below him was a mass of bubbling lava, like a pot of thick soup – moving in slow currents as if it is being stirred. He looked back at the Grendel. As much as he liked the idea of a destructor that would tear Albia apart , that same idea was a two-sided sword. The grendel would be perfect , but it could never reign absolute. The other Shee would find some kind of weapon or preventative measure that would stop the destruction. He knew this because he knew exactly what the creature's mind was capable of – and that did not include taking over a world.

He looked back at the lava. Right at that moment, an idea hatched.

The two norns were still sleeping although it was high dawn – and the sun was baking down on the leave-blanket that covered them. Nikai finally woke to the sound of things hitting the ground. He lazily lifted his head , only to see Isis picking up sticks and branches and throwing them around angrily. He knew Isis – under the pretence of gathering firewood , she was throwing a tantrum as was her very familiar modus operandi.

He got up and walked towards her, dodging flying splinters and leaves.

"Been a good morning I assume?"

She just gave him a fierce look and continued what she was doing.

"Oh come on, stop doing that." And with that he stretched his arm out to grab her shoulder. With that she violently pushed him away and then kept a branch in front of her in a defensive way.

"Touch me and you get splinters in your eyes, you pathetic excuse for a lifeform!"

"Tell me what's going on, Isis." His voice was no longer coaxing, but commanding, like an adult reprimanding a child.

"THAT is going on! That…..whole…..righteous attitude of you! You are such a bastard!"

"I cant believe it. I save you, care for you and you accuse me of being a righteous bastard."

Her voice croaked. " Obviously not like the way you took care of Skyra." And she pointed with a stick in the other norn's direction, who had by this time woken up from the angry yelling.

Skyra got up and walked towards them. Upon reaching them, she sidled up to Nikai, her body half hid away behind his, and she slipped her hand into his. She rested her head on the back half of his shoulder.

Her voice was soft and she sounded defenceless. " But why would you hate me Isis? Ive never done anything to you. Surely you don't like Nikai? I really meant no harm."

Isis could spit fire at this point. "You! Miss Innocent-I-want-to-get-into-the-only-male-available's-bed! You are disgusting!"

Nikai was now equally angry. "This isn't about Skyra is it? You just have issues that you cant deal with and you are taking it out on innocent people."

With that he turned on his heel and walked away – but just before he was out of earshot he clearly heard Skyra's voice.

"Mutant."

He turned around. Skyra was smirking at Isis – the smirk seemed to disfigure her face, the beauty that he once saw in her dissipated the more he looked at her.

"Leave."

Skyra turned to Nikai and smiled. " That's right Nikai."

She walked over to him confidently. Alhtough he was looking at a bush above the norns' heads, out of the corner of his eye he could see Isis bringing her wrist to her head as if in agony. Skyra walked right up to him and tried to kiss him , but his lips were still like a rock.

"Nikai?"

This time he looked directly at her as he said it, more clearly this time.

"Leave."

"I thought we _had_ something! She just clicks her fingers and you get rid of me?" Skyra's voice elevated in an alchemy of anger and resentment.

"She's not a mutant."

Skyra stomped her foot on the ground and pointed to the both of them.

"You better sleep with one eye open for the rest of your lives."

With that she grabbed up the toy car that Nikai was so fond of and threw it against the big tree stump so hard, it turned into shiny blue en yellow tin shrapnel.

When she was out of sight, Nikai sat down with his hands supporting his head.

He suddenly tired. So much tension in so little time.


End file.
